Trade Show Diaries - 8 Weeks to go!
I am about to embark on my 4th Trade Show and thought I would start a weekly diary, to share about what happens in the build up. This diary will be about my preparations for Top Drawer Aw24, it’s not going to be highly polished and i’ll maybe compact this into one blog after the show, but if you are interested in ready about what goes on in the build up I hope this is interesting!
8 Weeks to go!
So this week has kicked off the start of two e-mails from the organisers and the beginnings of a mild panic for me as it’s starting to feel very close now! I signed up for this years show last year in September, and all off a sudden its July and I’m counting down to it all over again!
So two emails that were sent this week were for access to two behind the scenes sites.
Site One - Exhibitor Manual
Logins were shared for The Exhibitors Manual This manual has lots of useful information and deadlines including.
-A Checklist of Compulsory Tasks which need to be completed.by 10th August. These include things like completing an Operations Form, Ordering your name board, Vehicle loading/unloading bookings as well as details of services and suppliers that are available
-Information about your stand. I have booked a Shell Scheme Stand which means I will have a shell which consists of walls and a carpet, but that’s it, lighting, electrical and display is all my responsibility to either source or order. Some brands may choose to build their own stands. I’ll be sharing more about how this is coming together in future blogs!
-Timetable of set up and Breakdown fairly self explanatory but lets you know when you can get access times to the venue to set up your stand and also pack it back down
-Services and Suppliers basically all the extras that you may want to add on top on the basics. For me it will be Lighting. But there are lots of add on’s, which come with an added cost.
Site Two - E Zone Login
This site connects my brand to Top Drawers website once this is published for this year, and is more Marketing Focussed. I’ll need to
-Complete my Business Details
-Upload Brand photos
-Upload Product photos
-Upload my Catalogue
I’ll now begin gathering my information, uploading images and getting my catalogue updated to include any new designs.
When I exhibited for the first time I found the amount of tasks and 3rd party sites quite confusing, its seemed every task required a different Login. I understand this a little better now but there are still a lot of third parties to go through and it can feel overwhelming so I am trying to tick off a few tasks each week and I guess sharing this process with you is a little bit of a motivator to get me to do this.
My Blog for next week will be to make a To Do List about what I still have to do in terms of getting ready.
Melissa
